Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Some Life... ❯ Late night sparring session ( Chapter 5 )

Later that evening, Kori sat on her bed, staring out at the crescent of a moon in the sky. After all the craziness of the day, she knew she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. Father… She had just seen her father for the very first time… That vision she'd had about a week ago, was that him in her vision? Or the brother Vegeta had mentioned? Dammit, why do things have to be so confusing?! My life was so simple this morning! I had a mother, a dog, and some friends at school. Ok, so I was a little odd for a human, but I knew where my place was in the world… Her tail flicked about next to her, showing her agitation, and she looked down to it. And now the father I never knew is an alien, and I'm probably the only one of my kind in the universe… That thought drove her to the aggravated tears she'd been holding in since seeing her father's message on that screen in the laboratory. She sobbed into her hands as quietly as she could, not wanting to wake her mother or disturb their guest.

Unfortunately, her guest had an infallibly keen sense of hearing. Vegeta, also unable to sleep, listened to the soft whimpers and sniffles from his guest room a few doors down from Kori's. Though he was unused to it, he definitely recognized the sound of someone crying. Though it is a show of weakness, I must applaud her for reserving it until she is alone. Perhaps there is hope for her… His ears perked up as he heard the sounds of Kori's bed creaking as she got up off of it, then a shifting and a soft thump. After a few seconds, everything was silent. Since he knew he was up for the night, he let curiosity get the better of him, and ventured down the hall to Kori's door, which was open just a crack. He nudged it open little by little, only to find the room empty, the window open and its coverings flapping in the gentle breeze. Frowning, he returned to his room for his scouter, and, snapping it over his ear, said softly to himself, "Where did you fly off to this late in the evening, halfling?" Upon pressing the button, he opened his own window and followed her powerlevel closely, but not enough so that she would notice him.

After a few minutes, he had to take to the ground. He recognized the scenery well-she was heading for Bardock's lab. He walked through the tunnel to find the door open. How the hell did she get this open? Looking towards the back of the lab, he saw Kori standing in front of the display, watching her father talk to her, completely oblivious to her surroundings. There were tears streaming down her face, but she held herself upright and her chin up proudly, like a warrior. Two contradicting attitudes from two different races… Vegeta watched her with wonder and growing respect as she dried her tears on her shirtsleeve and steadied herself, and, not taking his eyes off her, walked slowly into the lab. So little attention did he pay to where he was going, that soon he brushed a piece of machinery off a table, spilling its electronic entrails noisily on the floor below. He cursed his carelessness under his breath in his native tongue.

Kori's head whipped over to the source of the distraction, her body tensing instantly at the hint of danger. Her eyes widened when she saw Vegeta standing there, looking straight into her black eyes with those of his own. It was a few moments before she could say anything, and when she could, it came out more demanding and abrasive than she had wanted. "W-what are you doing here?"

He snorted derisively, and countered, "Actually, I was about to ask you the same question… And aside from that, how the hell did you open that door? You can't even read our language, and yet you typed in a code to open the door…"

She smiled a little, "I have a great memory. I watched you when you punched that code in and catalogued it away in my brain, should I ever want to come back in here again." He scowled at her, but for some reason she found it funny, and couldn't suppress a giggle.

"Don't mock me, girl," he spat, gruffly, and she ceased her laughing. "Enough of this chatter. Since you're obviously awake, as am I, perhaps we could busy ourselves with a training session. You may have talent, but you don't yet have the tools you need to defeat tougher opponents. If you like, I will show you to fight in the style of our people." He raised an eyebrow, sincerely hoping she would accept. The girl was obviously a fast learner, and he severely needed to feel productive, he'd remained idle too long.

She could hardly contain her excitement, momentarily forgetting all of the confusion and chaos of the day to smile widely at the prospect of learning a whole new fighting style from an obvious master of the art. Taking one last glance at the picture of her father on the display screen, she all but ran up to Vegeta and said, "Sure, let's go!"

He smirked, recognizing the love of fighting that was so deeply rooted in her heritage that she could do nothing to overpower it. He said nothing, just turned and took off, flying out of the lab, through the tunnel, and to the clearing where they had fought in earnest earlier that day, Kori following close behind. When they both reached the clearing no words were needed, they just began sparring instantly.

As they sparred, he paused periodically to correct or adjust things that he found lacking in her technique, but also took notice of some things she did that he could adapt for his own use as well. As the hours wore on, she began pushing herself harder and harder against her limits, and he held back less and less of his strength. Though Kori was noticeably the worse for wear, she'd gotten in a few decent hits on him, and they were both grinning with bared teeth, so far lost in the battle that they didn't even notice the sun peek up above the horizon. Finally, they were at an impasse, loosing their energy at each other in beams locked together between them.

Kori was fighting fatigue, injury, and emotional stress. Every last ounce of energy she had was being poured into her blast, just to hold him at bay. Vegeta, though he was not nearly in the state she was, was surprised at the amount of energy she was able to put into her blast, and he held himself in check to make sure he didn't end up killing her… Sensing that her body was about to give out, Kori made a last-ditch effort to overcome her opponent, forgetting everything and summoning up everything she had for one final push. She screamed as a massive amount of energy flowed from her and surged towards her mock-foe.

The burst of energy caught Vegeta completely off-guard, and as it neared him, he steadied himself, pushing his own energy against it to deflect it. However, he underestimated the force she had been able to put into the blow, and though the blast was slowing, it was still growing steadily nearer to him. He growled, pushing himself harder, fully intending to end the exchange between them.

It was about this time that Kori fully gave out, she was completely drained and almost unable to hold herself in the air anymore. She opened her drooping eyelids to see the blast she had just sent hurtling back at her, and knew in that instant that she was in for it. She was barely able to move, being weary as she was and paralyzed by fear. Before it hit, she simply let herself fall, but the blast still scored a glancing blow, sending her hurtling through a tree and into the ground with enough force to form a small crater.

Vegeta cursed in several languages, fearing the worst as he flew down to assess the damage. I didn't think she'd run out of energy after that last push… If she had at least been pushing back when the blast hit her, she'd have been fine, but now… He landed next to her, and was surprised to find her alive, even conscious. She was a bloody mess, covered head to toe with gashes, scratches, and bruises, yet she was laying there, smiling up at him.

She coughed weakly a few times, spitting out the blood that had started to fill her mouth, then said, "That was… fun," right before passing out, whether from fatigue or pain, he didn't know. He felt her pulse quickly at her neck, finding it strong and stable, and after making sure she wasn't going to hemorrhage to death, gathered her up and flew back to her home.

Sharon glanced to the door, worriedly. She'd awoken to an empty house. Just where her daughter and their houseguest had gone, she had no idea. Sighing, she simply turned back to preparing breakfast. She knew not to get too worried until Kori missed a meal. That was cause for considerable concern. After about another five minutes of cooking a huge amount of bacon, she heard the front door fly open and crash against the wall, followed by heavy footsteps and a growling noise.

She shut off the stove and turned warily to see Vegeta, looking a little scratched up, holding her daughter, who was an absolute mess of blood and dirt, and Donny crouched down, snarling at Vegeta. "Oh, God… What happened," she asked, choking back tears.

"We sparred," he told her simply. After that statement, she looked as if she would bite his head off, so he quickly interjected, "Hold off your reprimand until you've had a chance to tend to her wounds, woman." With that, he carried her to her bedroom and deposited her gently onto her bed. Seeing that a hasty retreat was in order, he found his way to the guest bathroom to take a shower.

Having cleansed himself and clothed himself in the earth garments provided for him, he walked silently to Kori's room to see how she fared. He looked in to see Kori, still unconscious, with her mother working on bandaging a particularly deep gash on her leg. He quickly noticed that once she had been cleaned up, the damage didn't look quite as severe. Maybe she's tougher than I give her credit for… Her face was turned to the door, and he made out a deep slash from her forehead across her right eye and then across her cheek. How did that get there? He wished for a regeneration tank right about then, to aid in her recovery. One thing was for certain, however-once she did recover, she would be considerably stronger than she was before their "sparring session".

He was too busy looking her over to notice that her mother had finished bandaging her and was coming towards him. He looked up just in time to notice the look of a mother bear protecting her cubs etched deeply onto Sharon's face. "What the HELL were you thinking? You call that a sparring session?!" Though her words were hushed as if not to disturb someone sleeping, they were pointed and harsh, and Vegeta felt as if he was being yelled at all the same.

"I did not intend for that to happen. We were fighting when she simply ran out of energy. Her current state is a result of getting hit with a blast I was unable to control." He put it so succinctly that he hoped she would not push the issue any farther. The look in her eyes was feral, and though she was infinitely less powerful than he, he felt a twinge of fear at the smoldering anger only a mother can have over the injury of her child.

"Well you damn well better learn some control, boy. I don't exactly want my daughter diced into pieces or fried to a crisp just because of a stupid sparring session! You'd better not lay a hand on her again, mister, understand?!" She was positively fuming at him. Though some small voice at the back of her mind told her that she wouldn't be able to control Kori's actions, and she would spar if she felt like it, the part of her that wanted to preserve her daughter's health overshadowed everything else. She shot one last burning look at Vegeta, who was too flabbergasted to speak, then nudged him out of the doorway and closed the door in his face.

"Mm… mom?" Kori had woken up, and was squinting at her mother, trying to make out what was going on.

"Oh, honey," she fawned. "How are you feeling? You got pretty banged up…" She looked over her daughter's injuries again, silently cursing Vegeta.

"It's not that bad, really," Kori said, attempting to sit up. But about halfway there, she felt a sharp twinge of pain and nausea, and let herself fall back down to the bed. "Okay, so I lied… What happened? Where's Vegeta?"

"He said you two were `sparring' and you ran out of energy. You got hit by a blast he couldn't control," she paused, her face contorting in anger. "He should've known better…"

Kori blinked, remembering what had happened. "Wait, mom. It's as much my fault as it is his. I pushed myself way beyond my limits, he was just keeping the blast from hitting himself. I should've backed down before completely draining myself. If anyone's to blame, it's me…" She yawned, her eyes drooping a little.

"We'll talk about this later, you need to sleep." She ran her hand through her daughter's hair a little, trying to coax her into slumber.

"No, wait. Vegeta… Is he here? I," she yawned again, "I need to talk to him. Please?"

Sharon sighed. It was always hard to say no to her only child. "Ok, but only for a few minutes. Then you'll rest." She got up and went to the door, opening it.

Vegeta had been leaning against the wall outside the door the whole time, and despite his best efforts not to listen, his keen hearing had allowed him to take in everything that was said on the other side of the wall. Sharon glared at him warily, then spoke up, "I know you heard everything. Go on in, but don't excite her, she needs to rest."

"Of course," he replied. Walking to the side of her bed, Vegeta once again scanned her injuries. Though there were a few cuts that merited concern, and multiple bruises and small abrasions, he estimated that the real reason for her being so tired was simply the fact that she had completely drained herself. He winced inwardly again looking at the cut on her forehead and cheek.

Kori smiled weakly at him, gesturing for him to sit down in the chair next to her bed. "Sorry about my mom… She can get a little overprotective at times."

Vegeta grunted, sitting in the chair, and impatiently inquired, "Well, out with it. What is it you wanted to ask me?"

"You brought me back here after I passed out," she asked. He only nodded in response. "Then I wanted nothing more than to thank you. I am in your debt… Ouji-sama…" She began to trail off, but willed her eyes to stay open, if only for just a little longer.

He had been momentarily taken aback by her addressing him so formally. He had actually gotten used to being called by his name over the past day. Looking at her intently, he simply stated, "No. You have welcomed me into your home after I nearly killed you. You have aided me without expecting anything in return. We are even." She smiled as her heavy eyelids finally drooped closed. When he was certain she was asleep, something beyond him compelled him to bend close to her, placing his lips on her slashed forehead. "Sleep, little halfling," he whispered, quickly taking his leave of the room.

Sharon ducked back just in time for him not to catch her eavesdropping. Though she did not want to admit it, what she had witnessed had altered her perspective of the Saiyan prince. He was not nearly so cold and exacting as she had thought upon seeing her daughter in such a condition after a simple "sparring match". As he walked out of her daughter's bedroom, she cleared her throat, and upon him spinning around to look warily at her, said, "I know after staying up all night and fighting, you have to be starving. Come to the kitchen, I'll fix you something to eat."

Though he eyed her warily, wondering what her motives were, his stomach let out a rumble of assent. Remaining silent, he followed her into the kitchen and sat down at the dining table. Breakfast went by rather uneventfully, both of them silent until Sharon finished her meal and spoke up, her very gaze commanding Vegeta's attention. "I have to go to work-I'd stay, but we have an especially big project that needs to be completed today. I don't trust my employees to finish it without my supervision. I trust you'll watch over her till I get back, and if she wakes up, don't let her move around. She's had enough excitement for one day."

Though he was unaccustomed to taking orders, he found himself nodding to her gravely. I can see how Bardock ended up with this woman, she's almost Saiyan herself… He began wondering what he was going to do for the time that the girl's mother was gone. As if reading his thoughts, she said, "If you get bored, you can watch the television. I'll turn it on, and then you use the remote," she walked into the living room and came back in holding a small black box, "this thing, to change what's on the screen." She briefly explained the buttons and what function they served, then grabbed her bag and headed out the door without a farewell. Sighing, he finished his meal, setting his dishes in the sink as he had seen the girl's mother do, and, taking the remote with him, walked into the living room to see what this television thing was.

As soon as he sat down on the couch, however, the girl's pet came up and started pestering him. The dog nudged his hand with its cold wet nose, making a little whimpering noise. "What?" Oh, great, now I'm talking to an animal… The dog looked at him pleadingly, setting its head on his knee and whimpering again. "What do you want?" The dog leaned onto him, lapping at his hand. Though it was an unusual sensation, it was not an unwelcome one. Perhaps he craves attention. I saw the girl petting him and speaking to him yesterday. Mimicking Kori's previous actions, he rather uncertainly began petting Donny's head. Almost instantly, his whimpering ceased and his tail thumped happily on the floor. Strangely, the petting not only soothed the dog, but Vegeta as well, and he soon felt his eyelids become heavy. Donny, seemingly sensing his weariness, flopped down onto Vegeta's feet, letting out a contented sigh as he drifted off to sleep. Vegeta followed suit, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning his head back onto the couch, letting himself catch some much needed slumber.